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Thread: Who gives us our prejudices

  1. #21
    Lovely Moderator ducasi's Avatar
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    Quote Originally Posted by El Salsero Gringo
    ... see by the age of seven that I was just being dumb.
    Unfortunately not all adults are as smart as you were when you were seven.
    Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story

  2. #22
    Registered User LMC's Avatar
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    But "there are none so blind as will not see".

    I don't have a degree. I'm not in an especially high-powered job. In other words, I'm nothing special. So if I can be open-minded and check the facts before jumping to conclusions, why can't anyone?

    Getting back to general prejudices rather than just those in children, some people are just natural "followers" and in the absence of any other information will base their opinions on what someone else tells them. When that "someone else" is the Daily Mail, and a reader shows no inclination to find out whether there is another side to the story, I find that quite disturbing. Yes, that's prejudice too

    Sorry, I can't resist a dull Monday afternoon moment: Prejudiced people should of course be burned at the stake (or possibly sacrificed to the FSM)

  3. #23
    Formerly known as DavidJames David Bailey's Avatar
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    Quote Originally Posted by El Salsero Gringo
    Resisting the temptation to over-analyse what you wrote, there's nothing there to suggest that mixed schooling would make much difference. Those "evil Fenians" might just as well be at the next desk; proximity won't make them seem less "evil" to a six year old.
    Except that kids tend to make friends with their neighbours (as well as bully them, of course) very easily - and telling a 4-year-old that their bestest friend (for this week) is evil will just result in them giving you a funny look.

    But telling them in the abstract that A Certain Group are evil / smelly / whatever is much easier if the kids have never met any of such group.

    Segregation and prejudice are allies - surely that was one of the main points of the civil rights movement in the USA?

  4. #24
    Registered User El Salsero Gringo's Avatar
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    Quote Originally Posted by DavidJames
    Segregation and prejudice are allies - surely that was one of the main points of the civil rights movement in the USA?
    Very true. But we're in danger of sliding away from segregation in schools to segregation at all levels of society. What Lynn said was that in an already segregated society, going to different schools contributes (was "a contributing factor") to prejudice. But to have non-segregated schools in an otherwise segregated society will not, I believe, do much good - because the prejudices that both lead to and feed off a segregated society are adult prejudices and I believe they are not connected to childhood prejudices.

  5. #25
    Registered User stewart38's Avatar
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    Quote Originally Posted by LMC
    But "there are none so blind as will not see".

    I don't have a degree. I'm not in an especially high-powered job. In other words, I'm nothing special. So if I can be open-minded and check the facts before jumping to conclusions, why can't anyone?

    Because we then wouldnt have any Politicians

  6. #26
    Formerly known as DavidJames David Bailey's Avatar
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    Quote Originally Posted by El Salsero Gringo
    But to have non-segregated schools in an otherwise segregated society will not, I believe, do much good - because the prejudices that both lead to and feed off a segregated society are adult prejudices and I believe they are not connected to childhood prejudices.
    Ah - now I get you.

    Yes, fair point - trying to artificially socially-engineer integration in only one aspect of life is probably not going to help much. Although I'd still argue that it's worthwhile - and politically it's easier to do than engineering other aspects such as housing.

  7. #27
    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    OK my point was probably two things - firstly that never having met someone from the 'other side' makes it easier to hate them and segregated schooling can contribute to this as can the neighbourhood you live in, the attitudes of your parents etc.

    However while (some) parents have the choice of where to live and can live in a mixed area, very few can choose to send their child to an integrated school. (It has been the policy on the Equal Opportunties form for job applications to ask what primary school you attended as that indicates whether you are P or RC.)

    Of course I'm not saying it automatically makes you prejudiced (otherwise the whole of NI would be prejudiced against one side or the other...) - it does mean you have to make more effort to understand where someone else is coming from.

    And DJs right - it is a lovely place!

  8. #28
    Registered User Lynn's Avatar
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    Quote Originally Posted by El Salsero Gringo
    I don't agree with you that segregated schools contribute to adult prejudice; at least, I don't think it's 'obvious'. Not withstanding the recruitment age of some paramilitaries I think childhood prejudices are shed and adult ones acquired later.

    It would be interesting to know if there's any sensible research in this area.
    There is - I heard this on the news today....


    Mixed schools 'not as sectarian'

    People who attend integrated schools in NI could create a new political common ground, researchers have said. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com[IMG] /><o:p></o:p></b></div>[COLOR=/><o:p></o:p>
    Northern Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region> politics." /><o:p></o:p>

    <o:p></o:p>
    Academics at Queen's University in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Belfast</st1:place></st1:City> said educating Catholics and Protestants together shows young people end up with less sectarian views. <o:p></o:p>
    <o:p></o:p>
    Their report follows six years of research into the political attitudes and identities of young people. <o:p></o:p>
    <o:p></o:p>
    It suggested those at integrated schools were more likely to reject traditional identities and allegiances.
    <o:p></o:p><!-- E SF -->
    Professor Bernadette Hayes, Professor Ian McAllister and Lizanne Dowds used a range of surveys to study if the attitudes of people who had an integrated education differed from those who went to a segregated school. <o:p></o:p>
    <o:p></o:p>
    Their report, published on Wednesday, is entitled: "In search of the middle ground: Integrated education and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Northern Ireland</st1:country-region></st1:place> politics."

    Professor Hayes said: "These results, tentative as they are, add weight to the studies which have shown that integrated schools can and do have an impact on the outlooks of the pupils who attend them. <o:p></o:p>
    <o:p></o:p>
    "Moreover, our study - based on a large sample of the adult population - suggests that the positive effects of integrated schooling extend into later life. <o:p></o:p>
    <o:p></o:p>
    "As the numbers experiencing integrated schooling grows, these individuals have the potential to create a new common ground in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Northern Ireland</st1:country-region></st1:place> politics."

    Full story http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4621426.stm


  9. #29
    Lovely Moderator ducasi's Avatar
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    Quote Originally Posted by Lynn
    There is - I heard this on the news today....



    Full story http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/4621426.stm

    Now if only someone in the Scottish parliament could read...
    Let your mind go and your body will follow. – Steve Martin, LA Story

  10. #30
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    Quote Originally Posted by El Salsero Gringo
    I had a dream about eating deep-fried dog off the bone the other night. The dog was still breathing, too. It was quite disturbing.


    DISTURBING? It's out and out Twilight Zone . You'll have to stop eating before you turn in of a night.

  11. #31
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    Re: Who gives us our prejudices

    Quote Originally Posted by El Salsero Gringo
    Based on a kid I knew at school at the age of five, I used to think all Italians were smelly. I didn't need to be given "opportunities" or re-educated by meeting Italians in a nationality-neutral and non-threatening mediation session to see by the age of seven that I was just being dumb.
    ...then going on holiday to Italy as a teenager and discovering - no, I was right all along!

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